by David Schreiner

Taking pride in our identity

KSB. What do those three letters mean? Katherine Shaw Bethea, of course. But aren’t they more than just initials? In the past 120 years, haven’t they earned a reputation and taken on an identity?

Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital was founded in 1897 with a gift by Solomon Hicks Bethea in memory of his late wife who died of tuberculosis. At that time, Dixon had no hospital and Katherine was forced to spend much of her short life traveling in search of medical treatment instead of spending quality time with her family and loved ones in her hometown. That forms the first part of KSB’s identity and is the basis of our mission: to provide health care to our community right here at home.

Over the years, KSB Hospital has earned a reputation for being more than simply a health care provider. Nearly everyone in the community can answer the question “What makes KSB special?” by responding “It’s the people.” Every day when KSB employees come to work, they’re playing an important role in building on that tradition of compassion, teamwork, and skill. That sense of identity is felt at every level of the organization, and it’s the kind of thing that motivates employee pride when caring for our friends, family, and neighbors.

KSB grows and evolves as the healthcare industry changes. We were ahead of the curve by including the triple mission to “restore, maintain, and enhance health” in our mission. Today healthcare means promoting wellness, educating patients, and providing comprehensive care to the whole patient. Our identity as a KSB team helps us fulfill that mission in a caring, patient-centered way.

As we discussed in the last post, the healthcare industry is seeing mergers, affiliations, and partnerships across the country. Those announcements sometimes spawn rumors and gossip about “will I lose my job?” or “will we lose our identity?”

At KSB, we’re committed to our mission and motivated by our identity. As we consider partnerships in areas like the eICU, stroke care, neonatal care, anesthesiology, and others, we always ask ourselves if it will fit our identity as KSB. If there’s a good fit, we can partner to bring great service to our community, if not, we move along.

However services are delivered, our commitment to our mission and our identity remain the driving force behind our decisions. Over the past century, the people of KSB have built those three letters into so much more. Together, we’ll keep that identity alive.